ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Booger McFarland (seen at right above) has been under some criticism the past two years (not as much as former colleague Jason Witten, but still a significant amount), with him and play-by-play commentator Joe Tessitore (seen at left above) finishing last in our reader-voted NFL announcer polls again this year. And McFarland made quite the commentary misstep during Monday’s Minnesota Vikings-Seattle Seahawks game, discussing an unusual pick-six off a batted ball and claiming that The Minneapolis Miracle (the Vikings’ famed 61-yard walk-off touchdown in the January 14, 2018 NFC divisional playoff game against the New Orleans Saints, which got its name from Paul Allen’s radio call) went “against the Vikings.” Here’s the clip (McFarland starts talking around 0:13):
“These are the types of plays that historically have gone against the Vikings, the Minneapolis Miracle, plays that are fluke plays that went against this team. I’m sure Vikings’ fans are saying ‘It’s about time we get one of these to go our way.'”
Update: McFarland apologized on air later, and also on Twitter after the game:
Apologize to #SKOL. Misspoke tonight about the Minneapolis miracle. One of the great plays in Vikings history. What a game though wow
— Booger (@ESPNBooger) December 3, 2019
Missteps happen on live TV, and McFarland is far from the first commentator to get a fact about a previous game he’s referencing wrong. And there certainly have been plenty of odd plays that went against the Vikings over the years as well; there have been odd plays that have gone against every team. But which team won is a rather major fact, and The Minneapolis Miracle certainly didn’t go against the Vikings.
And with that game being less than two years old, that’s quite the misstep to make. And that won’t help with those who already dislike McFarland’s commentary. He got roasted on Twitter for this one; here are some of those tweets.
https://twitter.com/PlayByPlayGuy1/status/1201690426366930945
https://twitter.com/REIMERholics/status/1201688505471995905
https://twitter.com/Adam_Henning/status/1201688003153944578
Mistakes happen, but yeah, this one’s not going to quiet Booger’s critics.
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.